


A Match Made in Kid's Kristmas Kraft Korner Heaven

by augopher



Series: The Things We Make, We Make With Love [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Seasonal Worker Stiles, Graduate Student Stiles Stilinski, Kid Fic, M/M, Single Parent Derek, gender variant character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 09:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2727080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/augopher/pseuds/augopher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek hated Christmas, okay? But his kid wanted to make Christmas crafts so badly. He couldn't help it if he developed a crush on the employee who helped them.<br/>Or: How a trip to a holiday display for kid's crafts changed Derek's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Match Made in Kid's Kristmas Kraft Korner Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> Minor continuity updates made 02/17/15
> 
> Enjoy some Christmas Fluff. This idea woke me up at five am, and three hours later here we are.  
> Unbeta'd and obviously I do not own Teen Wolf.
> 
> come visit me on tumblr  
> captaintinymite.tumblr.com
> 
> Please don't post my work Goodreads

Derek took a sip from his coffee, irritation rolling off his shoulders in waves. It wasn't that he didn't want to be here at "Kids Kristmas Kraft Korner," (No joke, they started every word with a K- What kind of pretentious marketing- _Stop it, Derek. You're being a Negative Nate. Erica talked about this_ ) it was just, Christmas was not really his thing. By not really, he meant not at all.

  
The only problem with that mentality was that pretty much the number one rule of parenting, well maybe rule number seven,  was 'Don't be a Scrooge at Christmas.' So yeah, here he was holding tightly to his kid's tiny little hand. "So, what do you want to do first?"

  
"I dunno. It all looks like so much fun!" Only a five-year-old could have this much enthusiasm about glitter glue and cotton balls, but whatever, Derek wasn't going to be a jerk about it, even though he hated glitter with a fiery passion.

  
He was getting ahead of himself. It wasn't always this way. Derek used to love Christmas. Even though his birthday fell on Christmas, his mother made sure he had a birthday cake and a separate couple of strictly birthday presents. The house, the house always looked liked something out of a dream. Garland and beautiful, elegant decorations hung around the house with care every year. They had the biggest Christmas tree he'd ever seen. Christmas Wonderland, his mother had called it. A fire while he was sixteen and at a basketball game with his older sister, Laura, changed all that.

  
He and Laura had lost everything that night. Six years later, he lost Laura. Holidays held little joy for him now. For a while he seemed happier. After he met his ex, he thought he could get through it all. Then she got pregnant and split right after the birth, relinquishing all parenting rights. There he was twenty-three and a single parent of a newborn, totally clueless.

  
He put on a brave face though, which is precisely why he was here in Christmas-excuse him Kristmas Hell.

  
"Come on, Daddy. I want to build a snowflake ornament."

  
And he was tugged towards a table filled with Popsicle sticks, pipe-cleaners, and paint.

  
"Well hi there." The  kid sitting at the table said, giving Derek's child a once over trying to figure out how to address said kid properly.

  
Derek wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly how his kid was dressed. He'd felt the judgmental stares from strangers and fellow parents around Beacon Hills for over a year now. _"You're going to turn him gay, letting him dress like that."_ Nothing like comments about how he was failing as a father to give him confidence about his parenting skills. It wasn't like he had any room to talk. He was bisexual. Couldn't really be against a gay child. He'd be a hypocrite.

  
The day Stephen had first come to him and said, _"Daddy, I want to wear a dress,"_ Derek promptly choked on the bite of bagel he was eating. Then came the decrees of, _"Pink is my favorite color, Daddy,"_ and _"Can you buy me a headband and a purse like, Amy has?"_ So, because he was an open-minded guy, he obliged. He figured, what harm could it cause? Yeah, maybe it was just a phase. Hell Stephen was five.Three months ago he was obsessed with Transformers, and now he hated the things. Kids were fickle like that. If it wasn't, Derek didn't want to be the first asshole to belittle and not support Stephen's unique way of dressing himself.

  
One night, Derek had sat down with him and asked, "Stevie, why do you want to wear a dress?" He'd kept his tone  non-judgmental.

  
"Because they're pretty."

  
"I see," he'd said, "and it's not because of anything else?"

  
"Nope. If girls can wear pants, then boys can wear dresses."

  
Stephen had informed him right after, that he didn't want to be a girl or anything, _"I'm a boy._ _God Dad_ ". That was that, and now here they are in Holiday Hell and this employee, Derek could just tell, was about to give Stephen weird looks and treat him like a weirdo. Everyone else did. Which, now that he gave the employee a second look, would totally suck. The kid, well man--he was definitely older than Derek assessed at first glance, was all sorts of beautiful. Big doe eyes, the color of bourbon, looked at them both from under a fringe of long, dark lashes. Pale skin dotted with moles just begged to be kissed. _Don't look at his mouth, Derek. Don't- Too late._

  
Derek took a long drink from his coffee in order to prevent a complete meltdown.

  
"What's your name?" He asked.

  
"I'm Stephen."

  
All confusion in the man's face disappeared after that. "I see. Well nice to meet you, Stephen. You are my last visitor today. I'm Stiles."

  
Stephen giggled. "That's a silly name."

  
"Well, it's a nickname."

  
"Like how, Daddy calls me Stevie? Okay."

  
Stiles, and yeah Stephen had been right, what kind of a name was that, went to work showing him how to glue the sticks together, helping him to cover it in blue glitter and hold it in place as it dried. Fifteen minutes later, the ornament had been carefully packaged up for safe transport home.

  
"Well thanks for stopping by, Stephen. That's going to look great on your Christmas tree. You and your dad, have a good night."

  
Derek tried not to read too much into the warm look Stiles gave him as they left. He failed. It had been a long time, a really long time actually, since he'd had that visceral a reaction to someone and the way they looked. It had been more than that, though. Stiles had not once treated Stephen like he was the odd kid for the way he dressed, like there was something wrong with him. He'd been professional and really patient with Stephen, and yeah, Derek was in trouble.

  
Especially when Stephen came out of school the next day. "Daddy, can we go do more crafts? They had lots of neat other ones I want to make."

  
Derek groaned inwardly. "Sure thing, buddy."

  
As soon as Stephen saw Stiles, he smiled and rushed over to his table. "Hi, Stiles."

  
"Back for more Christmas Crafts, Stephen?"

  
"Yep!" He let the 'p' pop off his lips.

  
"Excellent. Today my craft is salt dough ornaments." He showed Stephen some examples. "You want to make one too, Dad?"

  
"Silly, Stiles. His name's not Dad. Only I call him that. He's Derek." Stephen giggled.

  
"Well,  Derek?"

  
"Um, I don't know, I -"

  
Stephen pulled on his hand. "No Daddy, you're making one too."

  
"Okay. I guess I am."

  
Stiles set three cups and a little bowl in front of each of them. "Okay, first take your flour, that's in the red cup. Pour that into your bowl. Now the green cup goes into the bowl. That's salt. Give it a little stir. Last, you take the little cup of water and pour it in. What color would you like your ornament to be, Step-"

"Pink."

Stiles added just the right amount of dye to the dough. How did Derek know it was just right? Stephen told him. "Derek, for yours?"

"Daddy likes black, but that's a silly color for an ornament. Make his green."

"There we are. Do you want it to smell nice?"

"Can mine smell like candy canes?"

"Mint? Yeah, I can do that. Derek?"

"Mint's fine for mine too." He and Stephen mixed there dough, and Derek tried not to let his brain get ideas when Stiles offered to take their picture as they kneaded and rolled out their dough. He absolutely failed.

  
When the dough had been rolled to just the right thickness, they cut it into shapes. Derek chose a tree, naturally, while Stephen picked the ballet slippers. A little hole punch for the ribbon later, and they were done. "Now when you get home, your dad will need to bake them in the oven to harden them. It takes an hour or so at 350. When they're done, just tie your ribbon through the hole and hang on the tree." He gave them each a festive ribbon and packaged up their handiwork, saying good-bye as they left.

  
It became a routine for them. After school everyday, Stephen begged him to go make more crafts, and Derek quickly ran out of reasons to say no, reasons he never told Stephen about. They never went to a different table other than Stiles' either. It wasn't just staring at Stiles' attractive face, or the way he worked so well with Stephen that was getting to him. No, after that second day, Derek found himself actually enjoying doing these silly like crafts with his son. It was nice having this little hobby with him. He felt more Christmas spirit than he had in over a decade, and it had little to do with the fact he was falling painfully hard for Stiles.  Okay, it was about fifty fifty.

  
One afternoon while Stephen made a mystery craft, that Derek was not allowed to see because it was a present, okay, he sat back on a bench nearby, wedged in between a couple of mothers. He wanted to bolt.

  
"Your daughter is just precious." One of them said. "Such unique fashion sense. The tutu skirt with blue jeans and pink Converse."

  
"I just love her little pink beanie."

  
Oh God. Derek took a deep breath. "Yeah, he's a boy."

  
Their adulation quickly turned to shock. "And you dress him like a girl?! You're going to confuse him!"

  
"I don't dress him. He picks that out himself. He's five; he's learning to express himself."

  
"You need to put a stop to that. Kids will bully him."

  
"Actually, the kids at school don't seem to care. It's just adults that can't get over themselves and are judgmental jerks about it. Dressing like that makes him happy, and really, it's not hurting anyone." He stood and walked over to the craft table.

  
"No, Daddy. You can't see." Stephen scrambled to cover up his work.

  
Derek covered his eyes. "Actually, I was going to walk right over there," he pointed to the Starbucks about thirty feet away, "and get a coffee. Would you like a hot chocolate?"

  
"With whipped cream?"

"If you want."

"I do. I want lots! Thanks, Daddy."

  
He turned to Stiles, who at this point he actually felt close to being able to call a friend. "Can I get you anything?"

Stiles blushed, honest to God blushed. "You don't have to do that, Derek."

"Come on, call it spreading Christmas Cheer for all the cheer you've given Stevie making all these crafts with him."

"Oh well...if you insist. May I have an Americano, please, with cinnamon syrup?"

"Sure. What size?"

"Small is fine."

Derek nodded and walked over for coffee, casting a glance over to see his son laughing with Stiles.

"Hey Stephen, what do you want for Christmas from Santa?"

Stephen continued picking little trees for Stiles to hot glue to the inside of the Mason jar lid for what would become the bottom of a snow globe. "I want my daddy to be happy."

"He looks pretty happy to me."

Stephen sighed. "He's faking it. He hates Christmas. He tries to hide it, but I know he does."

"How can you hate Christmas?" Stiles looked genuinely shocked.

"Can I have the big polar bear now?" Stephen pointed to where he wished the bear to sit. "When he was a kid, his family died in a fire around Christmas time. Just him and his sister, my Aunt Laura, survived."

  
"Does your aunt like Christmas?"

Stephen shrugged. "Dunno. Never met her. She died before I was born. Christmas just makes Daddy sad. He's all alone except for me."

"Where's your mom?"

"Never met her either. She didn't want me."

Stiles' shock turned to sadness. "Is that what your dad said?"

"No. He said she wasn't ready to be a mom, but I know better. I found a letter she wrote him. It's okay. He's the best daddy. So I guess it's okay."

It wasn't okay. Stiles fought back anger. He hadn't admitted it to anyone, except for his best friend, Scott, that he'd developed a major crush on Derek, and really had grown to like Stephen. They'd been by every afternoon during the school week since Thanksgiving. It was now December 19th, and even though they only interacted for less than two hours a day, he'd learned quite a bit. That was enough time to fall head over heels right?  Here it was the last day of Kid's Kristmas Kraft Korner, and seriously who came up with that name, and he'd done nothing about it. Anyway, the thought of either of them being sad hurt.

  
As Stephen worked on the card for the present, now that the water had been added and the snow globe finished, Stiles hastily scribbled a note down in a little card of his own. A minute or so later, Derek walked over carrying the drinks.

"Sorry that took so long. Here you are. One small, Americano with cinnamon syrup."

Stiles took the proffered cup. "Thanks, Derek." He tried to put as much warmth and affection as he could into the smile he gave the man. "It's fragile, and," he gave him the box containing his present, "have a wonderful night, both of you. It has been nice doing crafts with you."

  
"You're not here anymore?" Stephen looked like he might cry.

"Well, this was the last day. I only worked here to earn extra money for school during the holidays. It's okay though. I live in town. I'm sure we'll see each other around."

Derek felt like a jerk. How had he never thought to ask what Stiles studied for school. "Hey, you know I never asked, what are you studying?"

"Working on my Master's in Counseling Psychology at UCBH. I want to be an art therapist, specializing in youth therapy."

Okay, so Derek may have just given the man heart-eyes. It wasn't just Stephen; the man loved kids. Yep, he was gone on the guy. "Well, Merry Christmas, Stiles." They parted ways.

Later that night, Stephen shuffled into the living room in his Hello Kitty pajamas and brought him his present. "I know it's not Christmas yet, but I want you to open it now."

"Okay buddy." When he went for the card first, Stephen stopped him.

"No. Present first."

Derek carefully opened the box and pulled out the snow globe. "Stevie, this is beautiful."

He beamed at him. "This is you," he pointed to the big polar bear, "and this is me." He said, his little finger hovering over the bear cub. "See, we're outside watching the snowfall in the forest, like you used to do when you were little."

Derek kissed the top of Stephen's head. "I love it."

"You do?"  
He stood and put the globe on the mantle. "Yeah, best present ever." And honestly, it kind of was. "Well, best after you, anyway. Can I open the card now?"

"Yes! Stiles made you one too."

Derek was pretty sure he blushed. "He did?"

"Yep. Open mine first."

"Of course." His heart clenched at the sight of the two lopsided snowmen holding hands, the words 'Merry Christmas' scrawled across the front in Stephen's unpracticed hand.

      _"Merry Crismas, Daddy. U R the bestest Daddy in the hole world. Luv Stevie."_

Okay, he was pretty sure he felt tears in the corners of his eyes. "Thanks, Stevie. You're the bestest son in the whole world too."

  
"Now the one from Stiles."

When Stephen had said Stiles made a card, he actually was expecting a card, not a note.

 _"Derek, over this last month, the highlight of my work day has been yours and Stephen's visit. I could have left it at that, but I feel like I am supposed to get to know you more.  I hope this is not too forward, but here's my number. (530-555-2326 ) I'd love to take you out sometime, and if you're not into guys, which I totally understand, I'd love to still be your friend. Everyone could use more of those._  
_I hope your Christmas is wonderful, both of you._  
_Stiles."_

  
He stared at the writing for what felt like eons. He had a phone number, and he panicked. He hadn't been on a date in over five years, but damn, did he want this.

  
After he'd tucked Stephen into bed, and secured a baby sitter for one of the next few evenings, with very shaky hands, Derek picked up the phone, waiting anxiously as it rang.

"Hello?" Stiles answered with confusion.

"Stiles, it's Derek."

"Derek!"

And okay, that was genuine happiness on the other end. "I hope it's not too late to call."

"It's 8:30 Derek. I'm 24,  not 80."

He laughed. "True. Um, I was calling because...well...crap... so um..."

"Yes?"

"Iwouldlovetotakeyouuponthatdate." He rushed the words out in one breath.

"What was that? Didn't quite catch that."

"Um..."

Stiles chuckled through the line. "Just kidding. I heard you just fine. Are you free this Saturday?"

"Yeah. I am." Derek smiled.

"Well then, meet me at Beacon Park say 7:00? There's a Christmas light show and they've somehow managed to keep an ice rink frozen outside in Northern California."

"Sounds great."

 

**Two Years Later**

  
"I think that's the last of them." Derek said, loading the presents into the trunk. "How many people did you say were coming?"

  
Stiles buckled Stephen into his booster seat. "Just my dad, Melissa, Scott, Kira and little Kiki. Well, okay..." He stood and looked at Derek, embarrassment all over his face. "I may have forgotten to mention a couple...or more."

Derek gave him a pointed look as he climbed into the driver's seat. "And by a couple you mean?"

Stiles buckled his seat belt. Kira's parents are coming. My dad's brother finally got leave around Christmas. So he's bringing my aunt and their three kids, Grandma and Grandpa, Melissa's parents, her two siblings and their families. The house is going to be full of people; I'm so sorry. I didn't know most of them were coming until this morning."

  
Derek looked down at his lap and chuckled, before leaning across to give Stiles a light kiss on the cheek.

"Ew! Gross." Stephen called from the back seat.

"Quiet you." Stiles joked. "You're not mad?"

"Don't worry about it. It does explain all the presents though."

Stiles laughed. "I know. Apparently, they all wanted to come and see this." He wiggled the fingers on his left hand, proudly displaying the newly acquired band on his ring finger. "My dad has a big mouth. And don't worry, they are all under strict orders to keep their mouths shut about how awesome Stevie's clothes are. Well Grandma Aggie will probably compliment you. Grown-ups can be so jealous of your wardrobe, Buddy."

  
Stevie kicked his feet clad in ruby sequin Mary Jane's and smoothed out the green tutu skirt. "I know. This one is pretty cool. It has little candy canes on it. Goes great with my Christmas sweater." He declared proudly. The pink and green sweater, displaying a dancing ballerina and nutcracker was a last minute find on Stiles' part. True to the tradition, the thing was hideous, just like his and Derek's were.

  
Derek looked at Stephen in the rear-view mirror and then over at his fiance, heart filled almost to bursting. He smiled. God, he loved Christmas.


End file.
